American Go E-Journal » 2015 » April

The deadline to apply for the 2015 Collegiate Go Tournament being held in Taiwan this summer has been extended to May 1st. This event is opento any current, future, or recently graduated college(both undergraduate and graduate) student, who will or has attended school in the year 2015. All costs related to room, board, tours, and travel during the event will be covered by the Ing foundation. Organizer Mike Fodera says that the event is meant for students of any playing strength to participate, and will have four divisions so that everyone will be able to play someone around their rank. Find out more information about the tournament — and the forms to register — on the ACGA’s website.

Players at the March 28 Boston Spring Open were greeted by a beautiful spring day: bright sun, birds chirping, warm breezes… wait, is that snow I see outside? So, players at the Boston Spring Open braved another harsh Boston spring to compete at the Microsoft NERD center overlooking a frozen Charles River. However, the atmosphere inside heated up quickly, as participants battled through four rounds to top their division.

The Boston Open is the first in a new series of tournaments that introduces a new format: players are split into divisions about five ranks wide and play all even games, except for the 6k – 15k range who play with handicap. This led to many competitive games and a few upsets, although this time the highest ranked players won their divisions. Full results are below.

Special thanks to Andrew Hall, who willed the tournament into existence, and Chun Sun, who arranged for space at the NERD center and dealt with much of the logistics. Also, thanks to Kate Baxter for helping to pick up coffee and donuts, as well as Neil Ritter for generously making his boards, stones, and clocks available for general use.- Walther Chen; photos by Chun Sun 5d and Chanho Park; click here for the complete album.

Winner Report: 47 people participated in the tournament, divided into four divisions, with cash prizes for the top three places in each.

Junnun Jiang Wins the British Open: The British Open was part of the British Go Congress and it was held this year in the Prince Rupert Hotel in Shrewsbury. The Open was played on Saturday and Sunday, with the BGA AGM held on the Saturday evening in between. 68 players took part. The winner was Junnan Jiang 4d with 6 wins and the runner-up was Alex Kent 3d with 5 wins.

Alistair Wall Misses Record by Half Point: Alistair Wall 2d scored a massive 45 points to win the Stacey Grand Prix, the grand prix for most games won in the top group at a year’s tournaments. The record of 45.5 points was set in 1996 by Francis Roads. Ironically, the game that cost Alistair the record was against Francis at the 2014 Mind Sports Olympiad, where Alistair passed with a dame point left on the board and lost the game by half a point.

Registration for the 2015 AGA Go Camp is now open. The Go Camp will be held from July 18th to July 25th at YMCA Camp Kern in Oregonia, OH, about half an hour from Cincinnati. Camp directors Amanda Miller and Nano Rivera invite campers of all skill levels, between the ages of 8 and 18 to join them for a week of go-playing and fun. Youth who played in the NAKC or the Redmond Cup are eligible for a $400 scholarship, and need-based scholarships of up to $250 are also available. For more information on the latest camp-related news, and to download the registration forms, please visit the camp website. Any questions can be e-mailed to Amanda Miller at agagocampeast@gmail.com.- Story and photo by Amanda Miller: Yilun Yang 7P plays a simul at last year’s camp.